Deploying predictive analytics to enhance patient agility and patient value in hospitals: A position paper and research proposal

Patient value in hospital care has become increasingly important over the last decade. This paper argues that patient value could be ameliorated by investing in patient agility. Patient agility constitutes the capabilities that enable hospitals to sense the health service needs of their patients and respond to the changing health service demands of these patients. This paper further posits that hospitals’ current sensing and responding capabilities are inherently reactive as they detect, act upon and pursue occurrences and patterns in the needs and demands of patients after these have already manifested themselves. Hence, we assert that this reactive nature thwarts hospitals in preventing negative trends or capitalizing on positive trends necessitating a shift to sensing and responding capabilities that are more predictive. We postulate that this necessary organizational shift can be facilitated by implementing and utilizing the power of predictive analytics and that this particular issue has not yet been adequately addressed by existing scientific literature. Based on this argument, an initial research proposal is established centering around the role of predictive analytics in fostering patient agility and patient value in hospitals. The initial research proposal sets out to examine this topic in an inclusive, integrated and comprehensive manner as it outlines a coherent conceptual model, incorporates a multi-stakeholder perspective and integrates biomedical as well as health service needs and demands. The initial proposal is meant to serve as a conceptual framework for future research as well as an initial point of departure for further refinement, improvement, elaboration, and discussion.